Three New Ballets to Open the Australian Ballet’s 50th Anniversary in Sydney by Andrew Miller

68102

Jack Wunuwun. Banumbirr the Morning Star, 1987. Natural pigments on bark 178 x 125 cm. National Gallery of Australia.

Sydney Opera House, Opera Theatre: 10 April, 2012
continues in Sydney until 25 April

The Australian Ballet presents Infinity, a triple bill:

The Narrative of Nothing
Choreographer – Graeme Murphy
Creative associate – Janet Vernon
Music – Brett Dean
Costume design – Jennifer Irwin
Stage and lighting design – Damien Cooper
Sound design – Bob Scott

There’s Definitely a Prince Involved
Choreographer – Gideon Obarzanek
Music – Stefan Gregory after Piotr Tchaikovsky
Costume design – Alexi Freeman (original costumes from Swan Lake (1977) and Night Shadow (1993) designed by Tom Lingwood for the Australian Ballet)
Stage concept – Benjamin Cisterne and Gideon Obarzanek. Original sets designed for The Australian Ballet by Hugh Colman
Lighting design – Benjamin Cisterne

Warumuk − in the dark night

with Bangarra Dance Theatre
Choreographer – Stephen Page
Music – David Page, orchestrated by Jessica Wells, featuring Dhuwa and Yirritja songs and stories from North East Arnhem Land
vocals by Jamie Wanambi, Banula Marika and Janet Guypunguna Munyarryun
Costume design – Jennifer Irwin
Set design – Jacob Nash
Lighting Design – Padraig O Suilleabhain
Sound design – Bob Scott

Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra
Conductor – Nicolette Fraillon

With the Evening Star just about to set, hanging a little above a Harbour Bridge pylon, and, by the second interval, a waning gibbous moon rising through a back-lit bank of cloud, so the Sydney season of the Australian Ballet opens, with three new short ballets. They cover a broad range, like three points of a very large triangle, showing some of the versatility of the company.

The Narrative of Nothing as the name implies is an abstract ballet, mostly. The Australian Ballet along with the BBC and the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, has commissioned from Australian composer Brett Dean “Fire Music“, a new score specially for this ballet, and the music and lighting contribute almost as major a part as the dancing. 

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!